Gippsland - How Now Gippy Cow
January 2011 Edition
Feeding Pastures For Profit
The Feeding Pastures For Profit (FPFP) program is about making the most of your resources - working with what you have rather than asking you to make large investments to change the way you do things. The program can assist with all dairying systems, whether they are large or small operations, high-producing cows or low input.
What does the Feeding Pastures For Profit program aim to achieve?
One of the key ways to optimise profit on a dairy farm is to produce as much high-quality milk as possible using the best-value feed sources available. In order to achieve this, two of the most important decisions that need to be made each day on a dairy farm are:
- How much pasture do I allocate to the herd today?
- How much supplement should I be giving the herd today?
Participants from previous programs have identified a large number of benefits that FPFP delivers:
- they increase skills and confidence to change the rotation before feed runs out or gets away from them in Spring to stay in control
- the system doesn’t rely on measuring pasture available in kg DM per ha
- they develop a better feel for their good and bad paddocks and the extent of their differences
- they have a system to manage the use of annual crops
- unleashing the potential from nitrogen fertilisers they were not capturing previously
- the system allows better management of the spring surplus
- greatly simplifies pasture management instructions to workers and relief milkers
The program involves:
- Introducing the principles behind the Feeding Pastures For Profit system over two days in the classroom. During this phase of the program we:
- discuss pasture management and supplement use, the interaction between the two and its impact on farm profit
- introduce simple, practical tools that help to get this right for your farm
- develop a Rotation Right tool for your farm,
- in-depth practical discussion on how you can utilise the principles and tools to achieve your feeding goals.
- The program then involves a minimum of five on-farm seasonal days over the following 12 months. Each farm walk is designed to continually build confidence in making profitable feeding decisions.
Who should consider participating?
Feeding Pastures For Profit is for dairy farm owners, managers and farm staff who are in charge of, or financially responsible for, the day to day decisions relating to the allocation of pasture and supplements to the dairy herd. The best results are realised when all members of the farm team attend the course days together.
For further details or to register for 2011 programs, please contact:
Frank Mickan on 5624 2259, 0427 317 471 or frank.mickan@dpi.vic.gov.au
Bree Walshe on 5147 0834, 0408 519 013 or bree.walshe@dpi.vic.gov.au
